


For All These Years

by solarscarlet



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, Heart-to-Heart, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 05:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16278851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarscarlet/pseuds/solarscarlet
Summary: It's been over a decade and Keith's feelings are still in hiding from the man he's been loving for so long. After reflecting on their time together, maybe it's time to make today the day he spills everything. A one-shot confession based fic, simple and sweet!





	For All These Years

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PeachTiger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachTiger/gifts).



> Yet another one shot to add to the collection. I'll be working on some multi-chapter works coming up soon as well, also look out for another update to my ongoing Sheith fic [Recollect Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14096943/chapters/32480307).

It should not be this hard. 

Keith makes that mental note for the up-teenth time in his life as he sits across from the greatest man he’s ever known. 

An amputee with science on his right side sits parallel from the twenty-six-year-old business graduate. He’s beautiful, Keith has thought that way for over fifteen years. Hair the color of a perfect cloud on blue sky days, brown eyes warmed like syrup you indulge yourself with over pancakes on a Saturday morning, and to boot, Takashi Shirogane is just as sweet, if not sweeter. 

But he doesn’t know how Keith has felt for nearly ten years of their time together. Out of anyone and everyone in their connection of friends, Keith has been the closest, save for Adam, who lingered beside Shiro in the first five years Keith knew him. 

He was convinced the pair was in love, convinced that their future was together, and just when he got a grasp on his own feelings, that he may love Shiro just as much, if not more than Adam… Adam disappeared. It was a quarrel, one that rocked Shiro’s world so hard Keith remembered the, at the time, terminally ill friend, coming over to his lonely home with red-framed eyes and a body beaten down into exhaustion. 

Keith remembers dialing for an ambulance that night but Adam never showed up, it was like he ceased to exist. 

Shiro thanked Keith almost daily in the month’s to follow, and eventually, Keith learned why Adam left, and he could understand both sides of the relationship, part of him was almost in agreement with Adam though. 

Shiro’s illness was devouring him from the inside, out, something he was born with and which was leaving him with a nearly useless right arm that would need to go soon, his body would most likely start falling apart in the years to come. But somehow, by the light of God and the fate of life itself, an answer came calling, but it came with risks. 

Katie Holt, Pidge as the click of friends knew her as had been working hard to try and save the man she saw as some sort of elder brother. She had made it her life’s work at age ten, brilliant little mind firing away almost twenty-four seven with her parents and actual brother also joining in to save a person who had managed to impact each of their lives in some miraculous way. 

Somehow, she did it, a fully automated arm ready to use and with the ability to connect to nerve endings for full usage with Shiro’s own brain, and a treatment, that could help to beat down this rare disease that was consuming him. But risks were there, the surgery was risky, of course, it would be Pidge’s father, Samuel Holt, who would lead the procedure with some of the worlds best doctors also backing him in the name of science, but a surgery never performed before, came with the ultimate what-if consequences. 

Keith remembered sitting crammed between Hunk and Lance, another two friends of their tight-knit group, as Shiro explained to them what this all meant. Katie elaborated in her scientific terms, now in her early teens but seeming to run laps around at least Keith and Lance’s brains, Hunk was a little bit better graded on some of what she was saying but she still outdid them all. 

He didn’t want to lose the man he was sure he was falling for. Keith wasn’t ready for that, sure he had to say goodbye to his father via death, and his mother walked out when he was young for the sake of other, more important things, but when it came down to it… Shiro had come to mean everything to him, because Shiro saw him for who he really was, and no one else could ever really say that in Keith’s life. 

He remembered breaking down in front of Allura, the last in their line of friends, just two days ahead of the life-changing surgery. He never cried, he hadn’t, not even at his father’s funeral, but now at the idea of possibly living in a world without someone as important as Shiro, it all came crashing down on him, the weight of the world, the weight of even thinking about a world without Shiro living and breathing in it. He saw why Adam was so reluctant now.

He remembered the agonizing wait in the waiting room, as friends they had banded together to wait out the surgery, blankets, coffee and plenty of crossword puzzles to keep them busy. His mind was numb the whole time, he only faintly remembered drifting asleep long enough to wake up with his cheek against Hunk’s shoulder, but even then the surgery still had three hours to go. 

Keith was the last to visit Shiro in his room post-op, the surgery was a full success along with the treatment he was starting, they already showed signs of improvement, and even though the skin and bones of his right arm were now gone, he had a fully robotic one to replace it, not even missing it at all it seemed. 

He could hear the other’s hoarse voice even now as he looked at Shiro, fully cured so many years later. He remembered their quiet conversation in the hospital room, he recollected sitting on the edge of the bed and holding Shiro’s hand, his new and improved one, he could faintly hear the whirring noise of it’s inner pieces. 

“Thank you, Keith.” Shiro had looked beyond exhaustion that night, and it was all he said to the other, not much of a conversation per say and Keith was tempted to question it, but he held back, watching as the other fell asleep. Keith stayed with him as he rested and visited on the daily in the days to follow his recovery. 

He’s been floating in Shiro’s orbit system ever since, they had built routines over the years, Saturday or Sunday was always a day they spent together, like today, a lunch being shared between them at a quarter after one on a gentle autumn weekend. On other days it was the numerous text messages throughout the night and phone calls on their way home from their separate occupations, Keith was working for a company infamous for data collection though on a more high security level, Shiro on the other hand worked to promote Pidge’s technology, acting as a spokesperson and leadership for the cause, he was a true hero to millions of people who knew what it was like to be missing a limb or fighting a battle against an illness they thought to be unbeatable. 

They were living comfortably, or as comfortably as any two single men possibly could. 

Keith had never dated, not even once, once he made his mind up on how he felt about Shiro, he singled it all down to solely just that man, his guiding light, his saving grace, his everything. He spent years being in places where he was ogled by other people of both sexes, and nothing gave him the feeling of like when Shiro looked at him. His eyes were always gentle but equally strong, alluring even. 

Shiro dated, he had dated Adam, to the verge of being serious on a future together before their relationship fell apart at such uncertainties of a future. But even after Adam, Shiro had dated, though it never ended in anything serious. Even so, Keith hated listening to each time Shiro discussed what occured, him and some guy he met at a promoting event went out to dinner, or they went to see a movie, but after that nothing else seemed to happen. Shiro claimed he never got the warm fuzzy feelings from them, or they just weren’t his type, or he didn’t seem to be theirs. It led Keith to wonder after all this time, was he even Shiro’s type? Or did he come off as some sort of brother to him? 

To this day it bothered him, every moment shared with Shiro was a time shared in confliction. He weighed the emotions, the joyous feeling of being within close proximity of his sun but also dealing with the fact that even after all these years Shiro didn’t know. Keith had kept it all a secret for so long and it was etching away at him every second more that he held it back. 

“Keith?” 

The world came back into motion, called from his thoughts as he stopped tapping his fork against the wooden table they occupied. His raven eyes glanced across to his crush as he heard his name called ever so gently. 

“Uh… yeah sorry…” Keith shook his head and moved to stab his fork down into the salad splayed out in front of him. 

“Is everything okay?” 

Shiro asked that question on a monthly basis, it was a check-in, Keith knew that Shiro was only looking out for him in the best way possible. Keith would do the same now and again too, whenever Shiro seemed nervous about a new speech he wrote Keith would offer to come over and hear him give it. He loved each one of them, they were beautiful, inspiring even though he wasn’t the target market for such words.   
He abandoned his salad again, biting the inside of his cheek as his gaze averted elsewhere, here it was, the moment when he weighed all of the possible answers he could give. If he said yes he knew Shiro wouldn’t go about prying much further, if he said no then he’d ramble about something stupid and not all too stressful that happened at work, like Kolivan breathing down his neck to get a report done or something about responding incorrectly to an email, trivial things.

There was another road that always lingered though, one he had only ever dreamed of taking, saying no and spilling it out, his whole heart, in front of Shiro. But again, a surgery never performed before came with risks, and opening up his heart would be the biggest thing he’s ever done. 

But how much longer could he keep doing this? 

His eyes shifted again, looking across and locking eyes with chestnut hues that seemed to wait patiently, but also had flecks of worry in them, they were both waiting on bated breath now. What would he do? What could he do? Even if he wanted to how would he even start…? 

He swallowed the lump in his throat, the least he could do was try. Sure, according to Shiro, Patience Yielded Focus, but also according Shiro, or well according to him from the Samuel Holt, if you got too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great. And what if all this time he was so afraid of having something truly great with Shiro? 

He needed to abandon his fears. 

He exhaled and sat his fork down fully this time. 

“No… everything… isn’t okay.” He bit his lip briefly and looked to where Shiro’s hands had settled against the table. 

“What’s going on?” Shiro was quick to lean forward slightly, brows knitting together as he inquired his long term friend. 

“I… I need to tell you something, I’ve… I’ve been wanting to talk to you about it… for a long time now.” He felt like he was going to throw up, the butterflies in his stomach fluttering to the point that the world felt like it was falling off his axis. 

Shiro’s concern only grew but there was something else there, Keith could hardly make it out… but it seemed like...hope? The elder reached a hand across and placed it over Keith’s own, sensing his discomfort. 

“Can I go first?” 

Keith was more than surprised at that, sitting up a bit more in his seat and instantly nodding, he knew he was stalling his own confession but he had to, he needed to, his heart needed to settle or else he wouldn’t be able to formulate the words he needed. 

“I like you Keith.” 

Confusion crossed him, where was this going?

“I’ve… honestly liked you for a very long time…” He felt Shiro squeeze his hand. “More than just… friends or… brothers… I mean I really...really, like you, and I’ve just been… so anxious about ever telling you. I kept thinking maybe all these years we were just meant to stay friends but… every time I tried going with someone else, I came back and looked at you and it just… didn’t feel right. I… could go even as far to say that I… I love you, Keith.” 

Their eyes met. And suddenly, it dawned on Keith, for all these years, they had already been in love, they had been playing a game of uncertainty and now, finally, after all these years it was said. 

“I love you too.” 

And for all the years to come, he would continue to say it.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always greatly appreciated. Thank you for the support! - [Solarscarlet](http://solarscarlet.tumblr.com/)


End file.
